When it comes to defense, bowl-bound NIU stands tall

D.J. Pirkle serves as Exhibit A for Northern Illinois' underappreciated defense.

Judging by his spectacular resume at Lincoln-Way East High School (first-team all-state honors from every media outlet his senior year), the Huskies' junior defensive tackle belonged at a brand-name BCS school.

For a while, the BCS schools believed that, too.

"I got recruited by everybody," Pirkle said. "You lie about your height and weight. When (the recruiters) finally met me, it was, 'You're too short. You're too small.' "

At least when it came to the Big Ten and other BCS beasts.

At Northern Illinois, a player is a player: even if he's a defensive tackle who enters college at 6-foot and 265 pounds.

Pirkle, now a strapping 290-pounder who handles the nose and "3-technique" tackle spots, is just one example of an NIU defensive unit that's short on measurables and acclaim but big on production.

To wit: When the Mid-American Conference unveiled the 33 young men who comprised its three all-league defensive units this season, only two Huskies (senior defensive end Brandon Bice and junior defensive lineman Jake Coffman) made the list despite NIU's lofty team rankings.

It just didn't add up.

Since second-year coach Jerry Kill brought defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys and the rest of his staff from Carbondale to DeKalb, NIU has led the MAC in scoring defense (19.5 ppg) and total defense (310.7 ypg).

Here are the only Football Bowl Subdivision schools that ranked ahead of NIU in scoring defense in both 2008 and 2009: Alabama, Boston College, Florida, Iowa, Ohio State, Penn State, TCU, South Carolina, Tennessee, USC, Utah, Virginia Tech.

See any slouches in that bunch? And all the Huskies get on the all-MAC units are a pair of second-team selections?

"It's the work ethic we bring," said junior cornerback Patrick George. "Within the team we're all one machine. It's also the mindset: Every year has to be a challenge for the other team."

Before NIU jetted across the border Tuesday to finish prepping for its International Bowl date with South Florida on Saturday in Toronto, the thoughtful, bespectacled Claeys sat down for a 45-minute conversation to shine a light on his schemes and his players.

Linemen & corners

NIU runs an attacking 4-3 defense based on those University of Miami teams of the late 1980s and the 1990s that whipped opponents with speed. Rather than read and react to a play, the Huskies use their quickness in the gaps to blow up best-laid plans.

"We try to build with D-Linemen and corners," Claeys said. "We want to get as big of a guy as we can, but he's got to be able to run. Anybody who plays upfront for us, we want to be under a 5-flat (in the 40-yard dash) or right at a 5-flat. Your great defensive ends are going to be more 4.7 guys once you find them."

And because pure defensive ends (and NFL first-round picks) like Larry English don't wind up at NIU too often, the Huskies must go to great lengths to find similar talent.

A prime example: NIU's last recruiting class featured Stephen O'Neal, a 6-foot-4, 205-pound QB/ safety at Rich East. Claeys and Kill projected him as a defensive end despite the fact he never put his hand in the ground to rush the passer in high school.

"But we saw him play basketball and we thought, "That frame-," Claeys said. "He's around 235 pounds now and he hasn't lost any of his speed. He has a chance to be something that a Big Ten school would want, but he wasn't that coming out of high school.

"So if we're going to get Big Ten size and speed, we've got to grow it."

Pirkle represents NIU's other talent acquisition path. As documented before, Pirkle had the skills but not the size when former coach Joe Novak signed him in February 2007. Now Pirkle is an indispensable part of the NIU machine, even though he mustered just 17 tackles in 12 starts this year.

In the spread offense era, NIU asks its defensive tackles to take on the constant double teams inherent in the scheme.

"We just try to occupy blockers so linebackers and safeties can run free," Pirkle said.

When the defensive tackles don't budge (Brian Lawson and Jake Coffman each made 6 starts alongside Pirkle in the regular season), that's when Claeys' schemes work best.

It's no accident that sophomore safety Tracy Wilson, who's often the eighth man in the box and regarded as the unit's top pro prospect, leads NIU with 86 tackles. Linebackers Cory Hanson, Pat Schiller and Alex Kube rank second, third and fifth, respectively.

"If they get the double team and hold the double, the linebacker hits somebody in the mouth," Claeys said. "That D-lineman's pretty important."

Bowl-day prep

Like most coaches, Claeys used the lengthy bowl practice schedule to introduce his game plan for South Florida at a more leisurely pace.

Since Claeys considers shifty redshirt freshman quarterback B.J. Daniels to be the Bulls' biggest running threat, the Huskies spent time figuring ways to slow him down.

"I'm just a big believer in you have to take away their best three or four run plays and you have to take away their best six pass routes," Claeys said. "If you can take away their best 10 plays and they've got to go to something else to beat you, then I can live with that."

In a normal season, Claeys prefers to play zone coverage 75 to 80 percent of the time. But this season, with five first-year starters at linebacker and the secondary, the Huskies played zone just 70 percent of the time and blitzed more than Claeys would like.

"It's hurt us a little bit," he admitted. "Any time you blitz, you're taking a chance."

But no matter what call Claeys makes, he coaches the Huskies to look the same before every snap. It sounds simple, but it's not the way most FCS schools play.

"I don't like to cheat alignment," he said. "If we're going to slant a defensive tackle, I don't want them cheating.

"We would like the quarterback and the O-linemen to have to do some work after the ball's snapped. If they can do everything pre-snap, then you're in for a long day."

When the center snaps the ball, the Huskies move as one in an oft-indistinguishable form. Maybe that explains why the all-MAC voters found it difficult to tell one Huskie from the next.

"We all kind of play off each other," Pirkle said. "Nobody really has outstanding stats. Everybody's an MVP."

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=347355">Understanding Northern Illinois' 4-3 defense<span class="date"> [12/30/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>